


Ananda Balasana

by NoonoosKitchen



Series: Shukitashu canapés [18]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Falling In Love, Getting Together, M/M, Not Beta Read, Smut, Yoga au?, they're 26-27, yes hello who ordered some sweet and spicy shukita here's your food hope you enjoy it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:01:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25452073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoonoosKitchen/pseuds/NoonoosKitchen
Summary: After insisting much, Yusuke finally obliges and attends a yoga class with Makoto. Sometimes it only takes a small act like that to meet your special person.
Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke/Persona 5 Protagonist, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Suzui Shiho/Takamaki Ann
Series: Shukitashu canapés [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615258
Comments: 6
Kudos: 78





	Ananda Balasana

**Author's Note:**

> The title is the name of a yoga pose. I suggest you check out which one it is for… future references.  
> This is a special update, since I’ve worked on this for quite a few months and the story is really dear to me. I decided to publish it the same day I posted my first work to celebrate my one year anniversary of getting back to writing. I hope you like it <3  
> Also, sorry for any typos, mispelling or weird wording. This is long.

**I**

All right, just to make sure he has everything he needs; a towel, some water, comfortable sport clothes, a change of clothes for later... Yes, that should be all. Now he just needs to wait.

Much to Yusuke’s delight, it only takes a few more minutes before Makoto enters the building, already dressed on her sportswear. 

“Yusuke! You did come!” She greets him when she notices him, a wide smile appearing on her face.

“Hello,” he says back, matching her smile. “Well, as good a time as any to start.” He gets up from his seat and starts following her down the hallway, not really knowing where they’re going.

“Do you need to change? The dressing rooms are at the very end. When you’re done, just climb up these stairs, first door on the left. The class is in 5 minutes so don’t worry.”

“I understand. See you in a bit then.”

They each take their separate ways and Yusuke goes to change. The dressing room is practically empty besides the spare old man that comes to do some splashing on the community swimming pool. Mmmh… Maybe that would be better for him…

Makoto has been insisting for months that he comes try a yoga class. She says that staying still on a stool -‘not even a proper chair!’, she’s said aloud many, many times- is not good for his body, and that he should try to get some exercise. At first, Yusuke winced at the proposal. Who could ever imagine him on a gym? But Makoto, cunning as ever, said that he didn’t need to go lift weight or anything, just some light exercise twice a week should be fine. That’s how he ended up here, ready to start his first yoga class. He doesn’t know much about yoga, but he does know that it’s pretty popular. All kinds of people do it, so it’s probably not too difficult, right? If Makoto’s convinced that it will do Yusuke well, he trusts her wholeheartedly. 

Having finished, he grabs his water bottle and a towel before locking his bag inside a cabinet and makes his way up. Opening the door carefully, he peeks his head inside and quickly searches for Makoto around the room. He finds her sitting on a matt on the second row, signalling him to go next to her. He does so and settles down at her side, preparing his own matt, and tidying his long hair in a low ponytail.

Some soft music is already playing, setting a calm atmosphere on the room. Counting both of them, there are only 4 other people in the class. He doesn’t know if that reassures him or not.

“Very well, let’s start.”

For the first time since he entered, he finally pays attention to their instructor. He’s a young man, probably around his age, with quite short, curly black hair and somewhat of an undercut. He wears a pair of big, black rimmed glasses that frame his roundish face quite nicely. He’s also shorter than him, probably. Is he going to do the class with the glasses on, Yusuke wonders…

They start on the floor, doing some stretching exercises. Yusuke can already feel his muscles crying out, but he can endure it for the time being. It’s to be expected, since he doesn’t have a lot of flexibility.

“Next, we’ll go with the Sun salutations. 3 series, let’s start with the Mountain pose. Up, down, stretch your right leg out.”

Yusuke tries to follow as best he can, stealing glances at the instructor and Makoto to see how he’s supposed to do it. At the start of the second series, his breath starts to get heavy. How’s he losing his breath with these simple exercises? And why is it so difficult to maintain his balance with only his hands up?!

“Final one, a bit faster.”

Faster?! Yusuke lets out a big sigh of relief once they’re finally over. His heartbeat has increased as well. Wasn’t yoga supposed to be relaxing…?

“Next, let’s start with the Warriors. Spread your legs, toes of the right foot facing the side, arms out stretch, then flex your knee. Remember to keep your hips inwards, aaand…. hold there.”

For how much longer….? His arms hurt from being up for such a long time…

“Ok, next is…”

Trough sweat, pain and probably very sore muscles the next morning, Yusuke manages to finish his first yoga class. He really is feeling a bit better now, and the meditation part wasn’t that bad either.

“So, how was it?” Makoto asks him once they’re out, walking to the train station together.

“Very different to what I was expecting, but I quite liked it… I’ll tell you tomorrow morning, though,” he responds with a slight grimace. 

Makoto lets out a giggle. “You’ll get used to it, don’t worry. I’m meeting with Haru on the weekend for lunch, do you want to come?”

“Ah, I’ll check if my schedule is free.”

“Ok. Talk to you soon!”

They say farewell and take their respective trains back home. Yusuke thinks he deserves a nice, long bath today, for the efforts.

***

“I have a friend coming today,” says one of his most advanced students. She’s a police officer, so it’s not unexpected that she’d try to maintain a good physical form.

“Is that so?” Responds Akira with a small smile. Internally though, he’s not very pleased with the idea. Having new people in the class means he has to adapt the exercises to make them a bit easier, so that the newcomers can start adapting.

It’s not very professional of him, but he hopes that whoever this is, the friend doesn’t come back. His regular students already have enough level to endure some hard poses, and he doesn’t want to change that. 

As he’s distracted thinking on what exercises he can modify, out of the corner of his eye he sees the door of the class open slightly and a head of blue hair peek inside.

Akira’s stunned for a few seconds. Damn, is that the friend? He’s gorgeous. Well, if he does good enough, he supposes he doesn't mind having him in class if that means he’ll get to see his pretty face.

Akira gets stunned once again when the friend enters the class and he sees his full body. Pretty slim, almost lanky, but very attractive nonetheless. He’s tall, with long hair that goes pass his square shoulders, almost reaching his chest. His waist has a soft curve to it and  _ how _ are those legs so long?

Yup, the friend can stay.

Once his new handsome student has taken his place next to the police officer, Akira decides to start the class. The first few exercises are pretty similar to what they always do, nothing too hard. Everyone seems to be keeping up. Once the exercises start to increase in difficulty, Akira sees his new student struggling a bit. As the class keeps going, the pretty boy struggles even more, though he pushes through by pure determination, Akira assumes. Bad idea, he’ll have hell to pay tomorrow morning…

He needs to admit that he stole a few glance during the session, just to make sure the newbie was doing ok, of course. Pretty boy’s ass is not particularly round, but it still looks pretty good when he has it in the air, sticking out proudly. And again,  _ those legs _ ... Ok, now is not the time to get distracted.

It’s not until they begin with the balance poses that Akira really must apply his self-control. How can someone so elegant looking be so clumsy… That, mixed with the frustrated expressions he’s making, just makes him look even cuter. Akira’s shifts will be much more entertaining if pretty boy decides to come back again. 

Once the class is over, he takes a quick shower on the dressing rooms and heads out to meet with Ann and Ryuji for their weekly night out. 

Thankfully for him, when he gets to the izakaya both of them are there. He takes his seat and, before either of them can say anything, he blurts out;

“I have a new student in yoga and he’s… a lot.”

“... Congrats,” says Ryuji, arching one of his eyebrows.

“A lot how?” Asks Ann, sliding some chips to him.

“11 on hot, 12 on cute,” he responds in a calm tone, starting to munch on the offered snack.

“Oooh, that kind of a lot!” The blond boy exclaims before wolf-whistling. “That’s high. He must look pretty nice to earn such a score.”

“It’s not only that he looks good, he’s also really clumsy and he seems really quirky and uff I’m getting hot just remembering.”

“What’s his name? Do you know?” Ann says with a bright smile, leaning on the table. She’s always ready for some juicy gossip.

“Nah, but he’s friends with the police lady. Don’t know if he’ll come back though, it looked like he was struggling a bit...” 

“Well, you can always ask her for his number.”

“Yeah, don’t know if I would do that. She looks… intense. Anyway, how are you two doing?”

“Shiho won a raffle at work and they gave her free tickets for Destinyworld!! Guess who’s busy this weekend!”

Their conversation moves on and they proceed to enjoy their meal together. When they’re done, each of them goes home. Akira goes directly to throw himself to bed, not even bothering to change clothes, and he just sleeps in his underwear. Before he completely falls asleep, he wishes that his new student will show up to the next class.

  
  
  


**II**

Much to Akira’s delight, he does show up. And to the next one too, and the one after that. Though he still has a long way to go to reach the general level of the rest of the students, Akira doesn’t mind in the slightest taking some extra time to instruct him on proper positioning and correct breathing. 

They also started to talk a bit after every class. The first time Akira heard his deep, rich voice, he had to control his facial expression to hide the pure awe that overtook him. His flowery speech, though surprising at first, isn’t that bad either.

He’s found out that his name is Yusuke and he’s the same age as him. He’s been friends with Makoto since high school, and she’s the one that convinced him to come to the classes. He told Akira that he didn’t expect to enjoy the classes so much, and that he’s grateful to have such a capable instructor. The compliments took Akira by surprise, but he can’t deny that he liked them, a lot. He also can’t keep denying that he’s developed a crush on the clumsy boy.

Akira’s always enjoyed his job, but now there’s a little extra motivation that gets him out of bed every morning.

All these happy and sweet moments vanish when suddenly, Yusuke stops coming to class. The first time it happened Akira didn’t think much about it; they are all adults, and sometimes you just have other pressing matters to attend. The second time, he started to wonder, but didn’t think much about it. Now, though, it’s been 6 days on a row and he just can’t help but be curious. Where did Yusuke go?

He’s contemplated the possibility of asking Makoto about it, but he can’t think of a casual way to bring it up. It wouldn’t be that weird to worry about a recurrent missing student, but Akira feels a bit too self-conscious about it. He also knows he could just wait and see, but curiosity’s weighing heavy on him. Not enough to win over social anxiety though.

Once more, he finds himself pondering whether or not he should run up and ask Makoto as he prepares the necessary equipment for the class. Fifteen minutes after, everyone arrives and they’re ready to start. Yusuke hasn’t come today either. He feels his chest aching once more, his urge to know the reason for his new student’s prolonged absence growing even more.

When the class is finished, he subtly eyes the young woman as she’s gathering her things. It’s a bit awkward to just ask her about it, but she’s the only one that can ease his worries… And if Yusuke has decided to quit, it would be better to know now, so that he doesn’t keep waiting for him and so that he can start getting over the silly little crush.

He needs to know.

Coughing up a bit to clear his throat, Akira takes a breath and decides to approach her.

“Hey, Makoto?”

“Yes?” She responds, looking up at him.

“Well, you know…”

Nice. Great. Smooth.

Akira takes a small gulp and continues. “Your friend has skipped a lot of classes, so I was wondering…”

“Ah, yes. He has an exhibition coming, so he’s busy getting everything ready,” she replies, not paying much attention to Akira’s babbling.

“Exhibition?” He repeats, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, an art exhibition. He’ll have some of his paintings on display.”

Akira’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh, I didn’t know he was an artist.”

“You didn’t?” Now it’s Makoto’s turn to look surprised. “That’s weird. When he talks, 95% of the time he’s just talking about art. But yes, I think he’ll come again once he has everything ready.”

“Oh.” He tries to subside the smile threatening to appear on his lips at the good news. “I see. Well… tell him I wish him good luck.”

“Of course, until next week.”

Having said that, she leaves the room, leaving Akira completely alone. After taking a moment to rejoice, he starts to go around the room to tidy it up, his mind wandering.

An artist, huh. It does fit him. Akira wonders what type of art Yusuke does. If he’s going to expose it, it must be good, right? Maybe he can ask him about it next time they see each other. He’d like to go see the exhibit, actually. 

***

After 4 more classes of absence, Yusuke finally appears once again. Akira can tell he’s been working himself to the bone; he has heavy dark circles, his hair is bundled up in a messy bun and his voice sounds a little hoarse. Who knew art could take such a toll on you. Akira decides to do an easy class to help him come back into the routine. 

When they finish and part of the other students have already left, Akira approaches Yusuke. He’s been practicing the conversation in his head for the past few weeks, so he should not fall victim to his nervousness this time.

“It’s nice to see you again. The first class after a come back is tough, huh?” 

“Yes, I can feel my muscles crying… But I noticed how my back pains came back after skipping so many classes, so I’m very glad to have come back,” Yusuke tells him with a small smile.

Akira can’t help but smile back. “I bet.”

They stay silent for a bit, neither knowing how to continue the conversation. Getting a bit nervous, Akira decides to speak first.

“Uh… Makoto told me you were preparing for an exhibition?”

“Yes, it will be opening in Ueno in two months. It’s focused on colours; their combinations, their contrast, the feelings they evoke…”

“Really? It sounds interesting. Maybe I’ll try to go.”

At his words, Yusuke’s face literally lights up. He takes a step closer to Akira, making him jump.

“Are you interested?!” He says, his voice raising a bit.

“A-ah… yes…?” Akira replies, slightly taken aback by the sudden eagerness. 

“It would be my pleasure to showcase my pieces to you! I must insist, please come visit. I can provide you with some free tickets if you want. They give the featured artists a few, so it won’t be any trouble.” 

“Ah, that would be great, if you don’t mind of course.” Akira’s unable to decline with Yusuke’s bright smile blinding him.

“Not in the slightest. Quite the contrary, I’m ecstatic to know that we share a common interest for art,” he says, giving a solemn nod of approval. “Please, give me some kind of contact information so that I can send you the tickets.”

Akira’s silent for a few seconds.

Did Yusuke just ask him for his phone number?

“Aah… sure, wait my phone is here…”

“Please, allow me.” Yusuke takes it and quickly enters his phone number, saving it under ‘Yusuke Kitagawa’. Akira sends a ‘hi’ on their chat room so that Yusuke has his number as well. “I will send them to you as soon as I have them. Well then, until next class.”

“Yes, see you….”

Akira stays in the room for a bit, stunned, his heart pounding like crazy. He didn’t think he would get his number just like that. He glances down at his phone, still with Yusuke’s chat room open. What is he supposed to do with this now…?

**  
  
**

***

Yusuke leaves the yoga classroom smiling happily.

His mood couldn’t be better. With just a single class, he can already feel his body a bit lighter than before, and the small exchange he had with his instructor only made him feel even better. Now that he has almost all his pieces ready for the exhibition, he’ll finally be able to come back to this pleasing routine.

With that thought in mind, he goes to the changing rooms and switches out to his casual outfit, not caring much about arranging it since he’ll go straight home. When he exits, he fins Makoto outside, waiting for him.

“Took you a while…” She says, a slight annoyance on her voice. 

“Yes, I apologise, I was talking to Akira,” he responds, coming to her side as they walk to the train station.

Makoto takes a second to match a face with the name and then she realises Yusuke’s talking about their yoga instructor. Since when did they start using first names with each other?

“Did he want something?”

“Ah yes, he wanted to welcome me back to the classes. He also showed an interest in my upcoming exhibition, and I invited him to come visit once it’s open,” he explains, a pleased smile invading his lips. ”Who would have thought that he would be interested in art. It’s a delightful surprise.”

“Yes…” Makoto responds, eying him from the corner of her eye. That sounds somewhat suspicious. “He asked about you when you were gone.”

“He did?” He turns his head to look at her, not expecting that.

“Yes, maybe he was worried? I don’t know.”

“Ah, I’m not that surprised, really. He looks like a very kind and caring person. Even with his softly spoken voice, you can tell just what a generous soul he is.”

Makoto is visibly stunned at the unprompted shower of praise for their yoga instructor. She turns to look directly at Yusuke. “He didn’t know you are an artist. I guess the topic never came up the few times you’ve talked.”

“Yes, I find myself getting lost on other matters when we briefly speak after the sessions. I must admit, I look forward to showing him around the exhibit and hearing his opinions on the pieces. I’m sure it will be insightful.”

Makoto is genuinely surprised to hear Yusuke saying something like that, though she can’t hide the smile appearing on her face. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you this excited about meeting someone new. I’m glad,” she says, her motherly persona showing up. “I hope you two can become good friends.”

“Yes, I hope so too,” Yusuke responds, his smile mirroring hers. “I surely do want to know him more intimately.”

Makoto coughs a bit at the choice of words. Sometimes Yusuke could express himself in peculiar manners, to say the least.

Or did he really mean…?

***

After a long, cold shower, Akira manages to calm down and process the recent events. As he’s putting on his clothes and gathering his things, he steals some glances at his phone, the nerves prickling his stomach once more every time he does. Thinking about this now won’t make him any good, so he should just hurry it up and go meet with his friends at the usual spot.

Thankfully for him, the izakaya they decided to go this time is the one closest to his workplace, so it only takes him 15 minutes to arrive. Once he enters, he just needs to follow the loud bickering to find his two friends sitting at a table.

“Hey,” he greets both of them and takes a seat next to Ryuji.

“Sup,” he replies.

“Hi Akira!” Ann says back, eyeing the newcomer for a while. “What’s that big smile for?” She asks him, seemingly able to notice Akira’s good mood.

“Nah, it’s nothing,” he responds, though Ann looks at him so intently that he realizes there’s no point in keeping it from her. “Well, Yusuke came back to class today.”

“Aaaaaahhh, I seeeeee,” she says in her annoying, bad acted innocent voice. Akira and Ryuji can’t help but grimace at hearing it.

“I also... got his phone number,” he adds in a smaller voice, hoping none of them hear it.

“YOU WHAT?!” She blurts out slamming her hands on the table, excitement flooding her face.

“Yeah, he invited me to some art exhibit and wanted my number to pass me the tickets,” Akira explains, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Damn dude, you’re in!” Ryuji chimes in as well, patting him on the shoulder.

“It’s not like that…”

“Ok so how are you going to start a conversation with him?” She continues, taking Akira’s phone from his jacket’s pocket and unlocking it. She memorized the code some time ago.

“I… wasn’t going to…” Akira replies, rubbing his neck, feeling his cheeks flush a bit. “Ann, give it back.”

“Yes you are, this is your chance! You need to make a move!” She ignores him and opens the chat app, quickly finding Yusuke’s contact. “Does he have a picture of himself on the profile!? Oh, nah… it’s just some… art thing.”

Akira takes advantage of her lowered guard and gets his phone back. “But I don’t have anything to tell him,” he eyes the opened profile picture, thinking for a bit. “Well, he complained about back and neck pains… Maybe I could send him some stretch exercises.”

“Yes, yes! Oh and wrist ones too, bet that’s nice for painters. Ok so, how are you going to open?”

“Aam…. ‘hi’?”

“.... We’re never getting you a date are we?” She stares at his face, expression blank.

“Ok, ok, calm down. Let me search for the exercises before I send him anything.”

“No, let’s order food FIRST and then Ann can keep playing matchmaking,” Ryuji finally joins the conversation, putting and open menu in front of their faces.

“Yeah yeah, whatever. I want the cabbage rolls with the potato salad and a cola.”

“Want some fried chicken?” Akira asks Ryuji, who responds with a grin. “And I’ll share with you whatever else you want. By the way, he said he would send me two tickets… anyone interested?”

“Ugh, no,” Ryuji says as he presses the button to call for a waiter.

“I’ll come! I want to see him actually, see who’s the boy that got our little Akira’s attention so bad,” Ann jokes as she wiggles her eyebrows to Akira.

“Don’t… say it like that.”

“Ok, do you have the exercises?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s see here…”

**[New message] Akira to Yusuke**

**Akira (21:43):** Hey, sorry to bother you

**Akira (21:44):** I remember you said you had back pains from skipping so many classes so I thought this could help

**Akira (21:44):** *attached.jrkbgkwejg*

**Akira (21:44):** *attached.kjbfjkbkae*

**Akira (21:45):** You can do them everyday, should work out even if you can’t come to class

“Yes, leave the conversation open so that it can keep going after he replies.”

“Ok…”

“And, you have to like, try and be super casual about things, like you are interested but not  _ too _ interested.”

“I think… he wouldn’t get that,” Akira says with a small grimace as he recalls Yusuke’s obliviousness.

“Excuse me, my advice is god-tier, how do you think I managed to seduce Shiho?”

“Pretty sure it was the other way around,” Ryuji says in a small voice. He receives a smack on the head.

Ann glares at him and turns back to Akira. “And, after you’ve talked for a while, you have to-”

“A cola and two beers, right?” A waiter comes to their table and cuts Ann’s monologue, making both Akira and Ryuji sigh with relief. 

The topic is dropped for the rest of the night and they enjoy their meal with smiles and laughs, making plans to meet the next morning too.

  
  


***

After a night of restful sleep, Akira eats a light breakfast and heads out to meet with his friends at Shibuya station. Ryuji and Ann are already waiting for him in the middle of the crowd next to Hachiko.

“Morning.”

“Did he say anything?” Ann blurts out without greeting him, grabbing his sleeve with excitement. 

“Yup, he replied this morning,” Akira says, turning his phone screen to her. 

**Yusuke (9:13):** Good morning, Akira.

**Yusuke (9:13):** I am very thankful for this, I will be sure to utilise it well.

**Yusuke (9:14):** Have a nice weekend.

“Oh… that was short,” she says disappointed.

“Does he always talk like that?” Ryuji asks, grimacing.

“Yeah…” Akira replies with a little sigh.

“I don’t think there’s any smooth way to continue this…”

“Mmhh…” Ryuji stares at the screen for a bit longer and takes the phone off his hand.

“Ok… I see, so he’s playing hard to get. It’s ok, we’ll figure something out.”

“Ann, don’t worry abou-”

“No, I know it might look complicated, but it’s really not. See, if you-”

“Fixed it,” Ryuji interrupts her, grinning dangerously.

“... What did you do,” Akira says, tone flat, and takes the phone from Ryuji’s hand.

**Akira (11:58):** send nudes

“ARE YOU MAD!?” Ann yells at him at the top of her lungs, making the people around them look at the group.

“What? That should work quickly to know if he’s interested or not,” Ryuji shrugs. 

“Even if he were interested, now he wouldn’t be anymore because you made Akira sound like a total creep!”

The phone chimes.

“He replied,” Akira murmurs breathlessly, his face blank with dread.

“What…” Ann gulps, “What did he say?”

**Yusuke (11:58):** But of course, I have a selection of some inspiring images that serve for perfect reference. 

The three stare at the screen, confused.

“What does he mean…?”

Another message comes in. 

**Yusuke (11:59):** * [ blue-nude.jpg ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b5/Matisse_Souvenir_de_Biskra.jpg/1280px-Matisse_Souvenir_de_Biskra.jpg) *

**Yusuke (11:59):** * [ woman-bath.jpg ](https://i.etsystatic.com/7677581/r/il/c264d9/1515288789/il_570xN.1515288789_gj9u.jpg) *

**Yusuke (12:00):** * [ ubalon-divers.jpg ](https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/2019/8/12/c/1/6/c1691e98-7e8a-4b1c-8fdd-771ac840af04.jpg) *

**Yusuke (12:00):** * [ kamisuki.jpg ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Torii_Kotondo_-_Kamisuki_%28Combing_Her_Hair%29_-_Walters_95889.jpg) *

**Yusuke (12:00):** * [ fallen-angel.jpg ](https://uploads1.wikiart.org/00242/images/alexandre-cabanel/fallen-angel-alexandre-cabanel.jpg) *

**Yusuke (12:01):** * [ earth-water.jpg ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Rubens%2C_Pieter_Paul_-_The_Union_of_Earth_and_Water_%28Antwerp_and_the_Scheldt%29.jpg/1200px-Rubens%2C_Pieter_Paul_-_The_Union_of_Earth_and_Water_%28Antwerp_and_the_Scheldt%29.jpg) *

**Yusuke (12:01):** * [ venus-urbino.jpg ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Venus_de_Urbino%2C_por_Tiziano.jpg) *

**Yusuke (12:01):** If I might ask, what do you need them for?

They all stare at the screen for a while longer, scanning the paintings of nude people.

“He...h-he…” Ann tries to hold it in, but she can’t help bursting into laughter at the unexpected reply. Ryuji joins her, both curling up and bracing their stomachs, short of breath from the unstoppable laughter. “What’s with this guy?”

Akira concentrates back on the screen, trying to ignore them. He can’t admit that he finds the replies somewhat cute; they’re so unmistakably Yusuke, how couldn’t he find them cute?

“Are you blushing? Are you seriously blushing?!” Ryuji says, making fun of him.

“Damn, you have it pretty bad,” Ann joins him, wiping tears off her eyes.

“Ok, that’s enough,” Akira says, almost scolding them, and types a reply.

**Akira (12:03):** I don’t know much about art so I was interested in seeing different styles

**Akira (12:03):** Btw, what do you usually paint?

***

“What does… ‘btw’ mean?” Yusuke asks to his friend, an eyebrow slightly raised in confusion.

“I believe it means ‘by the way’,” Haru responds. “Are you talking to someone?”

“Ah yes, I apologise for not paying attention to our current conversation.”

“It’s alright, Makoto will be here in no time,” she smiles back at him. “Is it someone from the exhibition?”

“No, it’s actually our yoga instructor. I believe I talked to you about him before. He sent me some stretching exercises yesterday, and now we’re engaged in a conversation,” he looks back at the screen, brow furrowed. “I’m not used to maintain conversations via text messages, but I would like to give it a try.”

“That’s so nice of him!” She replies, happily. “How are the classes going, btw?” She says with a small giggle.

“Quite well, I enjoy them a great deal. It is truly a shame that I couldn’t attend to them these past weeks. It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized how much I missed them,” he says, a clear image of Akira appearing on his mind as he recalls their conversation from yesterday. “I encourage you to attend as well, Haru. Though it may not be that helpful to you…”

“Well, it can’t hurt to try! And I want to do more things with you and Makoto, we don’t see each other enough.”

“And what are these ‘other things’?” Makoto asks, appearing near the group. Both turn to look at her, standing behind them with her arms crossed.

“Ah, hello! Maybe I’ll come with you two to yoga next week,” Haru tells her, smile never disappearing from her face.

“Oh, yes, why not? I don’t know if it will be of much help to you…”

“Yusuke said the same,” she laughs a bit. “I bet it will though!”

“I think it would be a nice activity to do together,” Yusuke says with a small nod. “For now, shall we get going? Lest we lose our reservation at the restaurant…”

“Yes, let’s go.”

  
  
  
  


**III**

Akira checks out his new  _ new _ student as casually as he can. A friend of those two, it seems, and an ex-gymnast or something apparently, because normal people don’t have that flexibility from the get-go. Akira’s amazed with how easily she did some of the exercises, especially since she’s a beginner.

“As expected, your form is magnificent Haru.”

The rich timber of Yusuke’s voice snatches Akira’s attention. He sees the group of three standing close to the room’s door, engaged in an easy conversation as they get ready to leave. 

“Figures you’d do great from the very start, I guess you can’t lose so many years or ballet training that easily,” Makoto adds.

Akira listens to the group talk as he gingerly goes around the room picking up the mats. So it was ballet, huh?

“Oh not really, it was difficult to keep the poses for that long!” Haru’s sweet voice comes accompanied with a small giggle. “I have a long way to go to catch up to both of you.”

“Your flattery is unnecessary,” Yusuke says, his voice also sounding overjoyed. “But I have to admit that I too managed to improved quite a bit. Today I was finally able to reach my toes, it is quite an accomplishment.”

“I saw it! It was so hard for you before!” Makoto sounds encouraging.

“I’m so glad for you Yusuke, I bet you worked really hard for it!” Haru’s tone matches hers.

He chuckles before answering. “I thank you, though I still have quite some way to go.”

“You’ve always been a hard worker, you’ll get there someday.”

“We’ll help too, don’t worry!”

Hearing both girls being so encouraging and kind to Yusuke, Akira can’t help but smile. It suits him to have such nice and sweet friends. 

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when the group burst into laughter. Akira takes his head up by instinct and looks at their direction. This is the first time he sees Yusuke smiling and laughing so freely. His cheerfulness is contagious, and Akira needs to admit that he loses his breath for a second at the sight.

Ann was right, he has it pretty bad.

Suddenly feeling flustered, Akira turns around to hide the growing heat on his cheeks and quickly goes to finish his job.

“Goodbye!”

“See you next week, Akira.”

He turns to look at them once more to say farewell, only to find Makoto’s eyes glued on him, watching intently. Unsettled, he makes a small gesture with his head and Makoto turns to leave as well, giving him one last glance.

Akira stays in place for a bit, confused. 

***

It’s been several more weeks, and Haru has made it a habit to come to the class from time to time. She’s not a regular like the other two, but it’s nice to have her in class; the atmosphere feels much lighter with her cheerful personality there.

As for himself, he’s also made a new habit; he and Yusuke talk via messages at least twice a week, and their chats after class have passed from ‘small talk’ to ‘it’s already been 40 minutes?’. He’s happy to admit that they’ve become quite close.

Thanks to this happy succession of events, time has passed without knowing. The long 2 month wait for the opening of Yusuke’s exhibition has come to an end. He and Ann have decided to go on the first day, and that just happens to be this Saturday morning. A mix of sleepiness and nerves are what are still binding Akira to his cosy bed, but the opportunity to see Yusuke out of classes also feels him with a sense of adrenaline that he can hardly control.

A ping on his phone makes Akira turn his head to the side, eying the device placed on the nightstand. 

**[New message] Ann to Akira**

**Ann (10:04):** Know what you’ll wear today? 

**Ann (10:05):** You need to make a statement!!

He smiles at the messages. He’s been thinking about what to wear for the past week, but it’s always fun to tease Ann a little.

**Akira (10:05):** Just some jeans and a shirt

**Ann (10:05):** AKIRA YOUR LOVE LIFE IS ON THE LINE DON’T DO THIS TO YOURSELF

He laughs and decides to leave her on read to make her suffer a bit more. Finally getting up from bed, he takes a quick shower and goes through his outfit options; a plain button up shirt with dark pants, a turtleneck with light blue tight jeans, or some jeans and a shirt. He’ll probably go with the turtleneck, pair it with a nice jacket. Elegant but not too elegant.

As he’s zipping up his pants, he hears another ping.

**Ann (10:42):** If I see you with shitty clothes I’m going to drag you back home and dress you properly

**Akira (10:42):** Don’t worry, I tried my best

**Akira (10:42):** I’ll be leaving in 10 mins or so

**Ann (10:42):** I’m almost done too! See you there!

Finishing up, he takes one last look on the mirror and passes a hand through his hair in an attempt to comb it. Good enough, he supposes.

The exhibit takes place in one of the many fancy skyscrapers of Roppongi. He meets Ann at the station entrance and they walk together to the place. She looks quite pleased with Akira’s choice of clothing and compliments him on it, saying that he’ll have good results for sure.

It’s not very difficult to find their way, since there’s a big gathering of people right in front of the building. Once they’ve managed to go through it, they have to queue to take the elevator to the right floor. Neither of them expected to find so many people. 

An eternity later, they finally redeem their tickets and enter the exhibit proper. The labyrinthine path of the gallery is full of hanged paintings depicting various splashes of paint mixing with one another. Some of them are more geometric, others are just a chaotic cluster of colours, and others are just surfaces covered in a single colour. There’s probably some theory or reason as to why the colours are arranged in such a way, but whatever it might be flies over Akira’s head. 

“... Why are there so many people here, these are just blobs of paint,” Ann whispers at some point, looking at the paintings from far away. 

“Hush you, they’ll kick us out.”

“Anyway, where’s our boy?” She starts to look around the room, even if she doesn’t know who she’s looking for.

“Don’t know, I don’t see him…” Akira replies, imitating her gesture.

“....” Ann suddenly stops, her attention getting caught by someone. “Is that him? The pretty one coming this way?”

Akira turns his head to look at the same direction. ‘Pretty’ is definitely a word he would use to describe Yusuke.

He finds himself unable to respond when the artist comes into his line of sight.

Yusuke, in all his tall and slender glory, is easy to spot in the crowd. He’s approaching them with a small but bright smile, and he makes a gentle wave of the hand when his eyes lock with Akira’s. He’s wearing a pair of tight, black leather pants that hug his legs perfectly, with a silky dark button up shirt adorned with delicate patterns that resemble flowers. The sleeves are rolled up to the elbows and he has enough undone buttons to let his sharp collarbones show.

Akira can feel his hands becoming sweaty by the second. Those pants are tight. Really tight. Yusuke’s legs look so good it’s almost sinful. And damn his long hair looks beautiful arranged in that lazy braid draped over his shoulder, which forces Akira’s eyes to get lost on the porcelain skin of his neck and partially exposed chest.

Akira’s feeling quite hot right now. He’s having a literal meltdown.

“You sure are aiming high…” Ann blurts out in a small whisper. 

“Akira! It is so nice to see you!”

The cheerful and sweet tone in which Yusuke calls out his name places the last nail on his coffin. Akira needs to gulp and force his face to form a smile before saying anything.

“Hey.”

“I was wondering when you would come. I must admit I’m surprised to see you on opening day, it tends to get quite crowded,” he replies, his half-lidded eyes glued to Akira. After a few seconds, he finally takes notice of Ann and Yusuke turns to her, his smile subsiding a bit. “I’m afraid we haven’t been introduced. I am Yusuke Kitagawa, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi, I’m Ann! Thanks for the tickets!”

“It’s no problem,” he replies in an uncharacteristic short response.

Akira can’t help but notice Yusuke’s usual over-dramatic personality seems a bit muted today. His brows furrows slightly, wondering what could be bothering him.

“Would you like a tour of the exhibit?”

“Yes please!”

“Right this way, then. As you can see, the organizers did a marvellous job of arranging the pieces in cohesive themes. First of, we have…”

***

Gallery exhibitions are not one of Yusuke's favourite parts of being a professional artist. Of course he likes showcasing his hard work to fellow art connoisseurs, but is it really necessary for him to attend the big gatherings? This time it's even worse, since neither Makoto nor Haru were free to accompany him during opening. He'll just have to take deep breaths and take the social interaction beast head on.

…

He… doesn't need to be standing here without doing anything, yes? It feels weird, to be alone in front of a piece all the time? Maybe he should walk around a little bit. He could try and find some patrons, see if any are interested enough on his new series. That's the main reason he's here anyway, to appeal buyers.

In his search for any known faces, he ends up walking to the entrance of the gallery, grimacing when he sees the flood of people that keep coming. It's going to be such a long day…

A lost looking girl with flashy blonde hair that looks completely out of place catches his attention. She seems to be looking around for something, as well as the man accompanying her…

Yusuke's eyes widen when he sees him. It's Akira.

His yoga instructor is right there, standing in the middle of the room, moving his eyes around the place. The cream coloured turtleneck that he decided to wear sticks to his torso, insinuating the fluidity of the curves of his muscles. Yusuke's eyes get lost following said curves as they travel down his body, coming to create the perfect line of his sculpted asscheeks and keeping their way down to the toned thighs, following the form of his well developed legs. Akira's also carrying a dark coloured jacket in one of his hands. Yusuke would like to see the whole ensemble together, the contrast of light and dark clothing must look splendid on his figure, and nicely compliment his hair that, somehow, looks much fluffier and softer than usual.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

His chest feels much lighter now. Without even noticing, a smile appears on his face and he starts walking in their direction.

"Akira! It is so nice to see you!"

It is. It really is.

"Hey," he responds with an easy smile.

"I was wondering when you would come. I must admit I’m surprised to see you on opening day, it tends to get quite crowded.”

Even if his chest felt lighter before, now it’s starting to feel heavy again. Yusuke can hear his own heart beats loudly drumming in his ears. Is he perhaps nervous about showing his work to Akira, afraid of what he might think? Surely that must be it, self-doubt is nothing new to him after all.

Before he can get lost once more staring at the other man's eyes, Yusuke takes notice of the woman standing next to him, who has her light blue eyes glued on him. He should greet her as well. “I’m afraid we haven’t been introduced. I am Yusuke Kitagawa, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi, I’m Ann! Thanks for the tickets!” She says back, her voice cheerful.

“It’s no problem.”

Yusuke tries to smile at her, but now that he's more aware of her presence he finds it quite difficult. He's never been good with dealing with strangers, and he's starting to feel the pressure once more. Maybe guiding them around would distract him a little.

"Would you like a tour of the exhibit?"

"Yes please!"

"Right this way then…"

Once Yusuke’s immersed back into art, all previous nerves and uneasiness easily disappear. The fact that he has now an audience to listen to his explanations, rather than mentally monologuing them to himself, also gives him an extra bit of joy.

Akira’s silent presence gives him a comfort that he didn’t expected. Ann and the rest of the patrons disappear as his full attention is dedicated to the other man; the subtle changes of his expression, the small curl of his lips, the gentle sway of his curly hair, the turmoil on his grey eyes…. They all pick Yusuke’s interest more than any of the works on display. Without realizing it, the young artist comes to give an individualized tour to him, ignoring anything else around him besides his yoga instructor and the paintings in front of them.

After passing some corridors, they finally come to one of his pieces. He’s been waiting for this, he desperately wants to hear Akira’s opinion on it. He smiles widely and turns to him.

"Akira, look. This one right here is-"

"Mr. Kitagawa."

"The main piece of my new-"

"Mr. Kitagawa!"

A woman on her late forties suddenly appears on the corner of Yusuke’s vision, shattering his slight trance and forcing him to come back to the real world, making him process the crowded art gallery he’s in. Akira and his friend -oh right, Akira had come accompanied…- turn to her before he even can.

“I had been looking for you all over!” The woman says with a cheerful tone, a small laugh coming out of her overly painted lips. “Your new work is excellent, just as I expected! Very innovative from your latest works, but still with the usual Kitagawa trademark! I have my eyes set on some of the pieces, and I would love to hear a more thorough explanation on them…” She continues without finish her sentence, the unsaid request easily understood by her phrasing.

“Ah…” Yusuke doesn’t know how to reply, suddenly feeling conflicted. She is a recurrent patron and he knows he needs to attend to her and entertain her, that is the whole point of the exhibition, to sell his paintings. But…

He turns his head to the side, eyebrows furrowed, and locks his eyes with Akira.

“We can check out the rest on our own, don’t worry,” he says to Yusuke with a small smile.

“... Of course,” he replies, not really wanting him to go. “Well then, if you’ll excuse me…”

With a small bow, Yusuke bids them farewell and turns to the woman, who’s way too excited to have Yusuke’s attention all to herself. Repressing a sigh, the artist asks her to take him to the pieces that interested her and gets into his professional mood. 

While he’s entertaining her, other patrons join their little group, making Yusuke spend a bit longer than two hours with them. Managing to excuse himself for a few moments to go to the bathroom, he makes a quick scan of the gallery, but Akira and his friend are nowhere to be found. That puts him in a sour mood for the rest of the day, but he deals with it as best he can. After all, he needs to spend a few more days attending the gallery, at least until he has a decent number of pieces secured for selling. The sudden rush of work implies that he won’t be able to attend his yoga classes until next Thursday.

**  
  
  
**

**IV**

After much work, exhausting conversations and patron pleasing, Yusuke can let the rest of the exhibit end without his presence. His reward for the hard work is finally relaxing and letting his tense body stretch with a yoga class, a moment of the week that Yusuke’s grown to enjoy a lot. 

Makoto forgot to tell him that the class for that day would start 10 minutes earlier, so when he enters the classroom they have already started. Muttering a low apology, which is met with a small smile from the brunet instructor, Yusuke goes to his place and joins the flow of the class. 

An hour after, he finds himself getting dragged out of the room with an inquisitive Makoto that wants to know every detail about the exhibit. Yusuke happily humours her, though he regrets not being able to even properly greet Akira.

After a bit more conversation, he and Makoto part ways to each go the the dressing rooms and get changed to go home. Yusuke does quick work of it, and while he gives his bag a last check to see that he isn’t forgetting anything, the door of the dressing room opens and someone comes inside. He ignores it, until the person calls out to him.

“Funny how you’ve been coming for months and this is the first time we find each other here.”

Instantly recognizing the owner of the quiet tone, Yusuke’s head snaps up and he sees Akira standing right in front of him.

“Akira,” he mutters, eyes blinking a few times as he’s processing the turn of events. “Yes, you are correct. It’s rather strange that we haven’t met here before.”

“Well, I usually leave a bit later because I need to take care of some things before finishing for the day, but today I need to leave earlier. That’s why the class started sooner than usual,” he explains, going to one of the lockers and opening it.

“Oh, yes. I apologise for coming late, I didn’t know…” Yusuke says, a ping of guilt invading him.

“It’s not a big deal, don’t worry about it,” Akira replies, back turned to him as he takes some clothes and a bag out of the cabinet. “So, how did the rest of the week go?”

“Quite well, if I say so myself. There are only a few pieces left to find a buyer, but I’m not too worried about it since I’ll be able to expose them on other galleries if I don’t manage to sell them now. I had more success than the last exhibition, so that in itself is a big win.”

“I see. I don’t really know how all this art selling business works, but I’m glad it went well.”

“I thank you, your support is appreciated. By the way, how did you enjoy the exhibit? I haven’t had the opportunity to ask you yet.”

“Well…” Akira starts, rummaging through his bag. “I don’t know much about contemporary or abstract art, but I could appreciate it more or less,” he says with a small shrug and a shy laugh.

The response makes Yusuke smile, filing his chest with a sudden sense of happiness. “I see. Everyone enjoys art in their own way, so I am delighted to know you managed to do so as well.”

A small hum comes from Akira as a reply before, without any type of warning, he grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls it up to take it off, leaving his chest totally exposed. 

Yusuke finds himself unable to tear his eyes off the toned pectorals and abdomen, admiring the shadows casted by sculptured muscles on Akira’s spotless skin. Even when he feels his gaze on him, his eyes growing wide, Yusuke can’t turn away. 

The usual baggy clothes Akira wears for the classes don’t show his well structured form, and even if Yusuke had admired some of the lines of his body back at the gallery, seeing them now without anything to block his eyes is truly enlightening. 

“Is… something wrong?” Akira’s low murmur is what finally calls his consciousness back to reality. 

“Ah, I apologise for staring. I simply find myself a bit surprised, your physique is quite extraordinary. I should have assumed so, since your job requires you to perform demanding physical activities,” he says, though for some reason he feels like his totally logical explanation feels a bit like an excuse. 

“O-oh… thanks,” the other replies, quickly putting on another shirt.

The covering of such an enthralling figure makes Yusuke’s chest tighten a bit, and he finds himself talking before he can register it.

“Tell me Akira, would it be all right if I requested something of you? I’ve been meaning to work on my anatomy for some time, but it is rather difficult to find people willing to model light of clothing.”

Akira eyes him for a few seconds before talking again. “You want me to… model?”

“Yes, your proportions are exquisitely balanced and it would be a delightful start to my studies.”

“I mean…” he mutters, rubbing the back of his neck and darting his eyes around the room. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Truly?!” Yusuke blurts out, totally surprised, since he wasn’t expecting Akira to agree so easily. “Ah, I am most grateful. Let us discuss and come up with a suitable date for both of us.”

“Think I should be free this weekend,” he quickly replies, the hand behind his neck coming up to twirl some of the curls covering the top of his forehead.

“This weekend?” Yusuke blinks a few times, doing a quick mental scan of his agenda. “I see, sooner that I expected, but I can adjust my schedule. Excellent Akira, let us meet on Saturday then. I’ll make sure to send you the address to my apartment later on.”

“‘Kay,” he says while he adjusts his glasses, covering his eyes with his hand. 

“Have a wonderful evening then,” Yusuke says as he walks to the door, a smile of pure joy curling his lips. “Farewell.”

And with that, he exists and walks to the entrance, where Makoto’s already waiting for him. They start to walk together to the station, but even if Makoto’s trying to explain something to him, Yusuke can’t stop thinking back at Akira and his shirtless form. Charcoal would be perfect for this piece, though it would look much better if he were able to draw Akira’s muscled legs too. Would he be comfortable with it? And what pose would suit him best…?

Yusuke can feel his cheeks tingling with a low heat as he keeps thinking about the best composition for the painting, though he really can’t tell why.

***

Akira lets his back rest against the metal locker, both hands rubbing his face before he runs them through his hair and lets his head fall back, eyes staring at the ceiling as he tries his best to process what just happened.

His heart is still madly hammering against his ribcage, unable to calm down ever since Yusuke’s piercing eyes glued themselves on his naked torso. He doesn’t know how or why things turned out like this, and his small freak out isn’t letting him decide how to call the way he’s feeling right now. Happy, of course, because any opportunity to see Yusuke is a god send, but also extremely nervous, because he doesn't know what the ‘modelling’ session entails or if there’s another hidden meaning behind it.

Thinking about it now will just make him be late to Shiho’s birthday party. He quickly finishes getting changed and splashes his reddened face with cold water, gently patting his cheeks a few times before leaving his work place.

He takes the train to head to the designated restaurant for the dinner party and keeps his mind busy playing some games on the phone, trying his best not to lose himself in thought. His foot keeps rapidly tapping the floor and he can hardly concentrate on the nonograms, which makes the ride feel longer than it actually is. He feels relieved when he gets to the place and sees his group of friends already sitting on a table in the far corner, laughing and chatting aloud.

“Hey”, he briefly greets as he takes a sit, taking a small package out of his bag and giving it to the brunette girl next to Ann. “Happy birthday Shiho.”

“Thank you!” She happily replies taking the gift, through her eyes linger on him a bit longer than necessary.

“Hey, are you ok?” Ryuji asks next to him, giving his shoulder a gentle push. “You’re frowning.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Akira replies, taking the menu.

“....Yeah, no,” Ann says, lowering the plasticised piece of paper with one hand and forcing Akira to look directly at her.

“Don’t… it really is fine, I’m just a bit agitated, don’t worry about it,” he insists, not wanting to turn the focus of Shiho’s party to himself.

“Is it something bad, or…?” The birthday girl asks, looking just as worried as the other two. 

“No…” Akira tries again to persuade them, but even he can’t convince himself with the heavy tone of his voice. “It’s just…” He sighs a bit, trying to find the best words to express himself. “Yusuke invited me to his house this weekend to model for him and… I don’t know, I guess it’s just unexpected and I still haven’t fully processed it.”

“Wait, really?!” Ann blurts out, her worried expression changing into a joyful one as her eyes widen in surprise.

“Wow, he’s smooth!” Ryuji adds while laughing, patting Akira’s shoulder again with a bit more force.

“For what you’ve told me of him, I didn’t expect him to be so straight forward. I’m happy for you, Akira,” Shiho says as well, all smiles.

“Yeah, I guess…” Akira tries to laugh as well, but the tightness on his chest doesn’t let him do it properly.

"I'm not surprised AT ALL, the guy had his eyes practically glued on him! He ignored me all the time!” Ann says in a poorly acted pout, hand dramatically pushing her blond hair to the side. “You have to do a big move this time Akira, he's basically waiting for it!"

“I don’t know, I don’t think it’s supposed to be what you all think…” He tries to tell them as best he can.

“Aahh you’re just nervous about it, that’s why you are so frowny!! I’m so excited to see how this turns out!” Ann continues with her daydreaming, now having Shiho join her giggles.

“This is it dude, you just have to play it smooth and you’ll get’im!” Ryuji loudly says next to his ear, draping an arm around his neck and pulling him in into a bro hug.

Akira lightly laughs again and stirs the attention out of himself and to the birthday girl, asking her to open the present. No way in hell he’s going to tell them he’s probably going to be light on clothes, in case his friends freak out even more.

The night passes with a good time, but when Akira’s back at home and resting on his bed, the doubts flood him all over again. He feels really insecure and doesn't really know what to do. He loves his friends, but their advice is confusing him, and even if he knows he likes Yusuke in a romantic way and that he should be happy to be able to go to his apartment, the emotions are overwhelming him.

***

Akira has a day and a half to calm down a bit, but he doesn’t really succeed on it. That’s how he finds himself, Saturday late afternoon, in front of the door of Yusuke’s apartment and with anxiety burning from his stomach up his oesophagus, feeling ill from the nerves. He needs to sigh a few times and take a few moments before ringing the bell. 

The door flings open and Yusuke’s head peeks from behind it, his thin lips forming a small smile as soon as his eyes fall on Akira’s.

“Good evening, I am glad you arrived safely. Please,” he says, stepping to the side and fully opening the door.

Akira nods and steps inside, his eyes moving around the room, both curious and searching for something to distract himself. 

Yusuke’s small apartment is lit with the late afternoon sun, its orange and purple tones filling the room. The high shelves are filled to the brim with book, small trinkets and other knick-knacks that Akira can’t even begin to imagine what they are used for. The floor is almost as cluttered, piles of papers, books, canvases and different art supplies scattered all over. He can also see a rolled up mat propped up in one of the corners, which makes him smile. So Yusuke does yoga even on his own home…

“Would you like something to drink?”

Yusuke’s voice turns his attention back to him, and he sees him standing to his side, the sweet smile from before still on his face.

Akira can’t help but smile back.

“Sure, some water’s fine.”

“All right, give me just a moment. Get yourself comfortable, please,” Yusuke tells him, gesturing to the middle of the room.

There’s a table and two stools set up, a large sketchbook and a box full of charcoal pieces resting on top of it. Akira approaches the area and puts his bag on top of the table, sitting on the stool as he keeps taking in every detail of Yusuke’s home. Being able to witness little bits and pieces of Yusuke’s daily life by glancing at his household slowly starts replacing his anxious nerves with much nicer ones, now simply feeling butterflies flap around his stomach.

He almost forgot that there is no need to overcomplicate things with Yusuke. Being himself and straight forward is the best way to approach him. 

Feeling much more comfortable, he crosses his legs and patiently waits on the stool, now excited to start whatever it is Yusuke’s planning to do. 

*** 

Once Akira comfortably positions himself on the stool, Yusuke finally picks up his sketchbook and turns into a blank page, observing it before turning his eyes to the model. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to ask Akira to take his pants off as well, so for now the only piece of clothing he’s lacking is his shirt. That will be more than enough for now.

Falling into the deep silence than usually comes when he works, Yusuke carefully picks the charcoal piece and starts to lightly trace the basic shape of Akira’s form, getting the structure first in thin lines before he goes in to properly draw the others.

Eyes carefully and meticulously observing him, Yusuke takes particular care of catching the contrast of Akira's skin with the shadows, of making the right texture of his hair and the dips of his muscles, to recreate his plumb lips and every single hair from his eyelashes long, his eyes deep and warm as they are in real life. The soft sound of his breathing and the slow rise and fall of his chest lull Yusuke to even deeper concentration, the room surrounding them completely disappearing from his eyesight, Akira’s body being the only thing his eyes can see. 

Even if they take breaks and Akira moves from time to time to stretch or drink water, the continued silence makes it so that his sense of time is lost, and when Yusuke connect back to the real world, he sees that the room has gone completely dark and that the air has turned a bit chilly.

“My, it’s been some time already… I didn’t mean to keep you for so long,” he comments, feeling a ping of guilt.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Akira replies with a smile, but Yusuke can clearly see the forming goose bumps on his arms.

“Let us finish here for today, we can keep going another time. I got some good sketches, but I would like to make some more. The artificial light wouldn’t produce nice results either way,” Yusuke explains, setting down his tools and standing up to stretch himself.

“Ok,” Akira responds, standing as well and grabbing his shirt.

“I hope it wasn’t too hard on you. If you have any complaints or suggestions, please feel free to voice them,” Yusuke says, starting to take some steps towards him.

“Everything was ok, but it’s true that I’m a bit tired… Never thought modelling could be this tough.”

“Yes, keeping your posture for a prolonged time when you’re asked not to move can be quite taxing. Please, make sure to rest well tonight.”

Yusuke comes to a full stop right in front of him, only being a short distance apart.

“I make no promises, but I’ll try,” Akira replies with a short laugh, smiling softly as his eyes go gentle.

Yusuke doesn’t respond, busy taking in the delicate image, a sweetness that he can’t describe radiating from it. His eyelids fall half-closed, and he notices that his continued stare makes Akira’s soft, roundish cheeks grown a faint tint of red.

The pale colour catches Yusuke’s attention, and the passion swirling in his chest pushes him to lift his hand and slowly rub his thumb over it, feeling comforting warmth emanating from it. Akira’s eyes dart to the floor, and next thing he knows, Yusuke is softly pressing his lips against his cheek, wanting to feel the lightly heating skin against his mouth.

Akira closes his eyes, a small sigh escaping through his nose, making the air brush Yusuke’s own cheeks. The artist then feels fingertips lightly brushing his hip, which props him to separate a little bit. Processing his acts, Yusuke blushes as well and presses his lips together, not knowing how he can even begin to apologise. Then, the hand on his hip travels up, now having the soft pads of Akira’s fingers lightly brushing his lips, forcing him to stop pressing them. Yusuke relishes in the touch, observing Akira’s soft expression totally speechless. On his part, Akira looks back at him with the same eyes, observing his face for a while longer until he finally leans forward, closing the last bit of distance and slowly joining their lips together.

Yusuke stays still, soaking in the feeling of the soft lips on top of his before he starts moving them, needy to feel more of their pleasing texture. They gently kiss each other for a while, feeling each other out, but soon their kiss starts to deepen, Yusuke’s hands falling to Akira’s side and moving until they rest on the small of his back. Akira’s travel up Yusuke’s side, curling under his armpits until they reach his back, lightly grabbing his shirt and pulling him into a hug. When Yusuke feels the warmth between them increase, he also tightens his grip, flushing their bodies together, and pushes Akira against the table behind him.

Between muffled breaths and pants, they keep kissing each other, their lips getting swollen for the constant contact, though neither of them mind.

Yusuke’s body starts to fidget a bit when he feels a pressure growing hard against his crotch. His eyebrows furrow when he takes in the fact that his sexual instincts are kicking in, but soon he realizes the pressure is coming from Akira, who is also quickly getting aroused by their intense making out. Libido starting to cloud his senses, Yusuke presses his hips a bit more against Akira, making them both sigh when the pleasing contact of their growing erections increases, and he moves his hips upwards a bit out of pure instinct. Akira makes a small sound against his lips and slips one of his legs around Yusuke’s hips, giving their crotches full contact against each other. He matches the slow roll of Yusuke’s hips, keeping the grinding, their mouths never parting away from each other as his hands grip Yusuke’s shirt with force, the artist’s fingertips carefully tracing Akira’s bare back.

His head feeling overwhelmed, Yusuke leaves his mouth completely open, busy taking in all the pleasing stimulation, but as Akira’s about to take the opportunity and sneak his tongue inside, a chime on his phone snaps them both out of trance.

They jump a little bit at the sudden interruption and separate from each other’s lips slightly, but they keep their bodies pressed together. Trying to catch his breath, Akira rummages through his bag with one hand and takes his phone out, checking the notification board.

“Oh…” He says, his brow furrowing. “It’s a notice, my last train is coming in ten minutes.”

“O-oh…” Yusuke says as well, finally being conscious enough to separate from him. “You should get going then, yes?”

“Y-yeah, sure…”

Now that they’re back in a more controlled atmosphere, both feel embarrassed and a bit awkward. Yusuke coughs slightly and turns to go tidy up his supplies as he lets Akira get dressed and gather his things up.

Once he is ready, Yusuke walks back to him and accompanies him to the door, both without saying much. Yusuke stands on the doorframe as Akira steps outside, turning for a moment to look at him.

“W-well, see you then?” Akira says, looking at him, face unsure.

“Of course, travel home safely,” Yusuke responds, not being able to hold his gaze. 

Their eyes meet for a split second, and Yusuke smiles slightly, not knowing what to do. Akira smiles back at him, taking a small step forward as he reaches his hand up to gently grabs the front of Yusuke’s shirt and pulls him down to be able to place a single, chaste peck on his lips.

“Goodbye”, he whispers against them before turning and leaving.

Yusuke stays on the entrance for a bit, rubbing his forearm, to then get inside and close the door.

***

As Yusuke’s waiting for his friends to meet him in the cafeteria, he can’t help but pick his nails. His eyes stink a bit, due to the night of poor sleep he just had, and his mind is flooded with doubts and confusion. When he sees Makoto and Haru approaching the table, he feels relieved, but only for a few seconds.

“Hello,” he greets, not even letting the girls take a seat.

“Good morning,” Haru replies, expression as calm as ever.

“Hi,” Makoto says coming behind her, both taking seats on the table.

“Am…” He starts, a bit hesitant. “I-i am sorry to start our meeting burdening you with my problems, but I’m in need of assistance,” Yusuke blurts out.

The girls exchange a glance before turning back to the artist, worry clear on their faces. “Did something happen?”

Yusuke fidgets a bit, trying to choose the best words to explain his plea. “Well, yes. It’s not something major, but… I’m troubled with some… human relationship problems.”

“Aha…”

“You see, I asked Akira if he would be so kind as to model for some anatomy practice, and he agreed. We met yesterday in my apartment and completed the session without problem, but as he was about to leave, an… unknown urge took over me, and I found myself invading his personal space,” he concludes, thinking that would be enough, but when the other two keep starting at him, he adds, “and kissing his cheek.”

He sees Haru’s and Makoto’s eyes going wide, mouth opening slightly.

“I-i know! I’m so ashamed I approached a model in such a way, just what was I thinking… I know I need to apologise to Akira, but I just don’t know how to. Just trying to imagine what he thinks of me now scares me. Oh dear, what am I going to do…”

“Ok, calm down for a second Yusuke,” Makoto tries to get to him, a gentle hand going to rest on the artist’s shoulder. “What did he do when you kissed him? Did he say anything?”

“Well…” He starts, his throat going dry. “He didn’t say anything in particular, but… we ended up properly kissing.”

“So he reciprocated, yes? Then I don’t think you should worry this much, that means he was ok with what you did,” Haru joins in, placing a hand on his knee.

“Yes, besides…” Makoto adds, smiling a bit. “I’ve seen Akira looking at you more than once. And I don’t think those looks were of a... friendly type.”

The unexpected words force him to peel his intense glare off the table and turn it to Makoto instead. “What do you mean by that?”

“I think Akira might be interested in you in a different way.”

“A different… way,” he repeats, carefully thinking about the implications of the words.

“Yes, I think you should just try and talk to him.”

“Mmh… I had been wondering for a while why sometimes I react unexpectedly around him… that…” He feels a small tingle appearing on his cheeks, letting him know that he’s blushing. ”That might explain why.”

“I think you are right”, Haru giggles, amused. “You always look very happy when you’re talking to him.”

“Do I? W-well, no matter… I shall follow your advice. I wanted to contact him to arrange another modelling session, but I was hesitant…”

“It’s going to be ok, don’t worry,” Makoto reaches out and squeezes his hand reassuringly.

“Yes… thank you so much for your advice,” he says with a small smile, some of his doubts lifted for the time being. “Sorry to have interrupted, let us order our food.”

“Yes, let’s. Oh and tell us how it goes when you talk to him, ok?”

“Yes of course, count on it.”

And with that their conversation ended, the delicious food and the warm laughter of his friends taking Yusuke’s mind off things during their meeting.

Later that same day, the artist finds himself sitting on the stool in the living room, phone in hand. He’s nervous but wants to send a message, the conversation with his friends running around his mind and making him approach the matter in a different way. With one last breath, he opens the chat app.

**[New message] Yusuke to Akira**

**Yusuke (21:26):** Good evening.

**Yusuke (21:26):** I was wondering if you would be available to continue with the modelling this coming Tuesday.

Getting anxious, he starts to quickly write ‘I understand if you are bus-’, but before he can finish a reply arrives.

**Akira (21:26):** Sre

**Akira (21:27):** Sure*

**Akira (21:27):** I finish at around 9 pm, is that ok?

**Yusuke (21:27):** Yes, if it is all right with you.

**Akira (21:27):** Yeah

**Akira (21:28):** See you on Tuesday then

**Yusuke (21:28):** Yes, have a good day tomorrow.

Heart pounding, Yusuke lets his phone rest on the table, counting the exchange as a success. Before he can move on to do something else, another message comes in.

**Akira (21:28):** You too

Yusuke finds himself smiling for the rest of the evening, excitedly waiting for the agreed date.

***

Akira's laying on his bed, eyes lost on the plain white ceiling as his mind keeps swim on an empty void. Ever since yesterday night, he's been unable to properly think.

It takes a ping of his phone to finally snap him out of his deep trance. Still unmoving from his position, he reaches a hand out to blindly tap on the bedside table until he finds his phone, his eyes squinting when the bright screen turns on in the dimly lit room.

**[New message] Ann to Infamous Trio**

**Ann (21:20):** Sooooooooo

**Ann (21:20):** How did yesterday's 'modelling' go? ;)

**Akira (21:21):** It went well

**Ann (21:21):** Oooooooooohhh

**Ann (21:21):** Please go ooooooon :)))))))

**Ryuji (21:22):** Ann you're freaking me out

**Akira (21:23):** I just sat on a stool for hours as my crush stared at me and my heart was about to explode from the nerves

**Akira (21:23):** Sorry if it's not interesting enough for you

**Ann (21:24):** What? Really?

**Ann (21:24):** Nothing happened?

He bites the inside of his cheeks, pondering on what to reply. He doesn't want to lie to his friends, but he's still unsure on what their little parting 'cuddles' meant, so he hesitates on whether to tell them or not.

**Ryuji (21:25):** Chill dude, I get him

**Ryuji (21:25):** He really likes the guy so he wants to take it slow

**Ryuji (21:25):** He doesn't want to ruin it

**Ryuji (21:25):** Right?

He lets out a deep sigh, running his free hand down his face. Another notification from the phone saves him from more self-deprecating doubt.

**[New message] Yusuke to Akira**

**Yusuke (21:26):** Good evening.

**Yusuke (21:26):** I was wondering if you would be available to continue with the modelling this coming Tuesday.

Akira's heart skips a beat. He quickly gets up to sit on the bed and grabs the phone with both hands to type a reply.

He needs to admit that the casual way in which the artist started the conversation relieves him quite a bit.

**Akira (21:26):** Sre

"Oh shit," he curses under his breath. "Calm down you useless homosexual."

**Akira (21:27):** Sure*

**Akira (21:27):** I finish at around 9 pm though, is that ok?

**Yusuke (21:27):** Yes, if it is all right with you.

He raises an eyebrow at that. Didn't Yusuke say that having artificial light was not good enough for the piece…?

Who cares about that now.

**Akira (21:27):** Yeah

**Akira (21:28):** See you on Tuesday then

**Yusuke (21:28):** Yes, have a good day tomorrow.

**Akira (21:28):** You too

And with that, he lets his body flop back on the bed, scrolling through the small exchange a few more times with a silly smile plastered on his face.

He's still weary to let his mind run wild imaging idealistic scenarios for their next meeting, but it's hard to control. And before he gets too busy with that, he needs to reply to his friends.

**[New message] Akira to Infamous Trio**

**Akira (21:30):** Well

**Akira (21:30):** I wouldn't say it's going that slow though

**Ann (21:30):** I KNEW IT AKIRA GIVE ME THE DEEDS :))))))))))))))))))))

**Ryuji (21:30):** Damn didn't think you actually had it in you

With a small chuckle, Akira rolls to his side and begins to type a wall of text explaining it all, putting a bit of extra flourish into it to make Ann a bit happier.

**  
  
  
**

**V**

Finally the next modelling session comes and Akira’s as nervous as the first time, but also just as excited. He rings the doorbell, one of his hands gripping the strap of his bag strongly to steady himself.

The door opens a few seconds later and Yusuke meets him with a small smile and a faint blush already dusting his cheeks. Akira can’t help but smile back at him, his heart doing a little flip.

“Thank you for coming once again. Please make yourself at home,” the artist says as he lets him into his house.

“Thanks,” the other replies, stepping inside.

Instead of venturing in, Akira stands right besides Yusuke, waiting for him to turn. When he does, they lock eyes, the artist going to tilt his head slightly to the side in a sign of confusion. Before he can say anything Akira takes a step forward, approaching slowly and hesitant. Yusuke stays in place, watching, until he feels Akira’s soft lips lightly press on the corner of his mouth. His eyes flutter closed at the contact and his hands immediately reach up to cup Akira’s cheeks, going to fully kiss him.

As soon as their lips meet, any other previous plans are forgotten and they’re on top of each other within seconds, bodies pressed together and hands sneaking under the clothes to touch the skin beneath. They devour each other for what feels like hours, lips swollen by the constant kissing and tongues tangling in a mad love dance, the air around them getting as hot as their bodies.

The passion and intensity of the moment quickly get to Akira’s head, getting his senses so blurry he barely registers when he’s guided in and pushed into the sofa, falling into it, and with Yusuke looming over him. He only has a few moments to regain his breath before his lips are captured again, the artist going to sit on his lap and wrapping his arms around his neck. Akira’s arms go to curl around his waist, starting to caress his sides and happily swallowing every sigh Yusuke lets out against his lips. 

Their lungs starting to fail, they finally pull apart and look into each other’s eyes, breath laboured. They both chuckle slightly, and just before Akira’s about to go in for another kiss, Yusuke gets off his lap and goes to kneel on the floor, right between his legs.

As Akira’s mind is catching up and trying to formulate something to say, Yusuke pushes up his shirt a bit and brushes his lips right beneath his navel, making Akira lose any form of speech again.

"Do you… do you mind?" The artist asks, both hands coming to rest on the inner part of his thighs.

Akira can't respond so he just shakes his head no, seeing a shy smile grace the other’s lips as his hands go to work on his pants, zipping them down and opening them until the tent trapped inside is free. Akira gulps, embarrassed seeing how aroused he’s got in only a few moments, his face getting redder when Yusuke’s slender fingers press slightly on the bulge, making him repress a sigh.

After caressing the hardening length for a bit, he goes to the hem of Akira’s underwear and slowly pulls on it, making his cock easily spring free, coming to proudly stand before Yusuke’s face. He then wraps his fingers around the throbbing flesh, starting to gently pump it, feeling it with his hand.

Akira watches intently, biting the inside of his cheek, wondering if it is all a dream. 

After a few more pumps, Yusuke frimley grabs the length by the base and tilts it towards him, leaning forward until his lips brush the tip, giving it a gentle kiss. He keeps kissing the head, taking a bit of it between his lips and massaging slightly with them as he gives it a tentative suck, making Akira release a sound between a sigh and a moan. Hearing him, Yusuke’s eyes look up at his, locking them for a moment, before he parts his lips open and buries half of his cock deep inside his mouth. Akira now freely moans, his body feeling heavy and sinking into the couch as his hips push forward, seeking more of the pleasing warm of his crush’s mouth.

Yusuke bobs his head with a steady and constant rhythm, both hands holding Akira’s member as he keeps delicately sucking it, letting his tongue swirl along the shaft as his mouth moves up and down on it.

Akira’s entranced by the image, the artist’s long and silky hair brushing his exposed skin and falling like a curtain on Yusuke’s face, obscuring his crimson cheeks that hollow out with every suck, the rock-hard length in his mouth gleaming in the dim light thanks to the saliva coating it. Even if Yusuke’s treating him gently, he feels he won’t be able to last much longer, the combination of the view and the tight, moist pressure on him being all too pleasing.

While he tries his best to compose himself to make it last as much as possible, he sees Yusuke bring the tip of the member to his lips, taking it out for a few seconds before opening his mouth wide and dipping his head down all the way. Akira lets out a long, loud moan, his head falling back and his eyes rolling backwards because he can't believe his cute and sweet Yusuke just deepthroated him, but he can definitely feel it by the wet warmth encompassing his entire length. Just as he's trying to come back from it, he looks down to see Yusuke pulling away, the head of his cock pressing against his blushed cheek, making it puff out, and Akira needs to close his legs around his head and grip the edge of the sofa tightly, because he almost comes just from see it. That makes Yusuke pull the hard member out of his mouth, some drool tainting the corner of his lips, that he takes off brushing the back of his hand against them.

"Would you like to… come to my bedroom?" He asks, still kneeling on the floor but with eyes blown out by desire.

"Yes, please," Akira replies getting up from the couch, letting his erected length hang out in the open.

Yusuke stands up too and tentatively goes to grab his hand, Akira firmly grabbing it back. He’s guided to a door on the right side of the room, that when opened reveals a simple bedroom with a bed, a wardrobe and a nightstand. Yusuke kneels with one leg into the bed to throw a giant plushie of a lobster to the floor -Akira smiles at seeing it, the cute stuffed animal taking him by surprise-, just to then turn around to approach Akira with semi-closed eyes, seeking his lips.

Akira kisses back gladly and pushes him down into the bed, going to loom over him as he adjusts the posture on top of him. 

They keep passionately kissing as their hands roam around each other’s bodies, slowly peeling off the excessive layers of clothing, shirts, socks and glasses thrown carelessly around the room. When it’s finally time to take their pants off, Akira takes his sweet time sliding Yusuke’s pant down his legs. He caresses them softly, running his hands down all their length and peppering butterfly kisses on them, wanting to feel the softness of the skinny limbs with all his senses. He likes Yusuke’s legs so much, he can’t resist the opportunity to feel them as much as he can. The artist doesn’t seem to mind either, letting him do as he pleases without peeling his eyes off him.

The final pieces of clothing are tossed to the floor, and they both take some time to explore each other’s naked and aroused bodies with their eyes, carefully taking in the image.

Yusuke’s body is beautiful. His skin is spotless and very soft looking, the lines of his body gracefully flowing and almost giving him an ethereal look on the dim light. Part of Akira’s mind is racing trying to convey to memory the sight before him, while another part is bombarding him with endless thoughts of what’s to come, thinking about riding his beautiful Yusuke and hear him moan and god yes finally they’ll do it and-

As he’s taking it all in, he suddenly sees Yusuke opening his legs, exposing his entrance, as he looks at Akira with needy eyes.

“Eh?” Akira’s taken so by surprise that the sound escapes him without noticing.

“E-eh?” Yusuke lets out too, mirroring his bewilderment. “What’s the matter?”

Oh no… Did they both think they were going to...?

“W-well… you know, I just thought that… I was going to… ” Akira starts to move his hands around, embarrassment conquering him. “Be… like…”

“Oh,” Yusuke says as he props his body on his elbows, closing his legs a little bit. “Do you prefer it that way?”

“N-no! I mean, I don’t really care, I just thought that, since last time you took the initiative, I thought you like… liked it better the other way…” Akira’s hand keep moving erratically, the capacity to formulate coherence sentences scaping him by the moment. Why is it so difficult to talk about this things with the person you like!?

“I don’t mind it either,” the artist responds, his voice being weirdly calm. “Whatever you prefer.”

“Well, you already did something for me. So… whatever you want.” 

“... Is it all right like this then?” He asks in a small voice, avoiding his eyes, a vibrant red blush decorating his sculpted cheeks. 

Akira’s breathing stops for a second. “Y-yea, yes!!” Yusuke looks so cute, he doesn’t mind in the slightest being the top now. “We can do it the other way around next time.”

“Yes,” he responds, laying back down on the bed and opening his legs once more. “The things are on the drawer.”

“Y-yeah, right,” the other gulps, going to take both a bottle of lube and a condom from the indicated place.

Having both in hand, Akira opens the bottle up and takes a big squeeze out. He rubs it in his hand for a bit to remove the slight chill of the substance and gently places the other hand on Yusuke’s inner thigh, forcing it a bit more open.

“Ok, I’m… going in,” he announces before smearing all of it around the artist’s rim.

Yusuke does a little squirm, but keeps still. Akira slowly runs a few circles around the clutched entrance before slowly pushing his index inside, the resistance he finds making his rock-hard member twitch just imagining that pressure enveloping him. 

Much to his surprise, Yusuke doesn’t even flinch with it. Akira tries to repress his bewilderment as he buries the entirety of his digit inside, finally getting a reaction out of him when he curls the finger up.

Akira presses his lips to suppress the smile threatening to appear at hearing Yusuke moan, and he keeps working his finger in the tight, warm walls, taking in every single flinch and sigh the artist releases. He also marvels at the image of Yusuke’s own length twitching and moving every time he caresses his prostate.

When he feels him loose enough, Akira takes his finger out just to bury it deep inside again accompanied by another digit. Yusuke grunts thanks to the bigger intrusion, and this time the artist can’t help but chuckle nervously, one of his arms going to hide his eyes before another moan escapes him. Akira can’t help but laugh as well at seeing him like that, knowing very well how he feels since he’s sharing the emotion, both feeling giddy and nervous. He thrusts his fingers in a bit more before finally talking again.

“You good?” He murmurs as he lightly brushes his fingers on the artist’s weak spot.

“A-ah… yes,” the reply comes in a whisper, the arm finally lowering from his eyes. “I believe I am ready.”

“Really?” He can’t help but blink, thinking that it’s still way to soon for him to be properly prepared. “I don’t want to rush you or anything.”

“I am fine, don’t worry too much,” he replies, muffling a grunt when the fingers leave his entrance. He then moves on the bed to comfortably rest on it, both legs open wide on either side of Akira.

“Ok. I just… I really like you so I guess I’m a bit nervous,” the other confesses, sheepish, ripping open the condom and slipping it into his achingly throbbing member.

“It’s fine, I too feel restless. I suppose it’s because I... like you as well,” Yusuke finally admits, to Akira and to himself.

Akira’s eyes half close, a sweet smile appearing on his lips. “I’m glad,” he soflty murmurs before leaning down once and tenderly pressing his lips with Yusuke’s. “Ok, I’m going in.”

After relishing in the soft contact provided by the kiss, the artist releases a small sigh and caresses the other’s arm, nodding. “All right.”

Having his approval, Akira kneels on the bed and goes to take some of the excess lube from Yusuke’s hole to smear it on his length. That done, he grabs it by the base and positions the tip on the slightly stretched entrance, just introducing it a little bit. The small pressure’s already making him shiver with anticipation.

He pushes a bit more, finding it difficult to introduce the head inside, the warm squeeze on his sensible flesh propping him to close his eyes. Around his hips, he feels Yusuke’s legs closing too.

The movement props him to slowly open his eyelids, looking at the artist, his long silky hair spread around the pillow, his chest raising and lowering, and lust filled eyes staring back at him with endless, fiery passion.

Akira’s so mesmerised by the scene he needs to force himself to speak. “W-wait, maybe this will help…?”

Saying that, he puts both hands underneath Yusuke’s knees and props them up until they reach his chest, leaving his entrance fully on display and vulnerable, ready for Akira to ravish it.

Not hearing the other complaining, Akira takes a deep breath and keeps pushing inside. He enters him, slowly, taking in the good feeling of Yusuke’s tight walls enveloping his length, the hot and wet insides accommodating him with a firm squeeze. As he slides himself inside, Akira lets his head fall back, letting out a long drag moan, his mind completely losing connection with the real world by the overwhelming pleasure. The artist’s velvety voice joins his as well, Akira’s width stretching his tight hole so deliciously Yusuke almost gives up only by having it inside, his whole body trembling.

Once Akira’s fully sheathed, and to let Yusuke get use to him, he takes one of his legs and drapes it over his shoulder, caressing it and kissing it tenderly again. He keeps giving him the sweet affections until he stops feeling the walls widely spasming against him, notifying him that Yusuke’s gotten used to his dick. He then pushes his leg back up. 

“I’m going to move, ok?” He says as he gives a slow and tentative thrust against his ass.

“Please,” a cracked, pleading voice replies. 

Eagerness takes over him, and Akira starts with exiting him half-way and pushing back inside, trying the hole a few times with deep and gentle thrusts before he starts to give them a bit more force, loud and quick slapping sounds invading the air of the room, the sounds melting and merging with pants and moans. His grip tightens on Yusuke’s legs, his body urging him to go faster and faster and seek more of the pleasing feeling. Hastiness urging him, he pushes on the legs to lower them a bit more and soaks in the delightful image of his lovely Yusuke being in such a lewd pose. This position also allows him to keep his eyes on his beautiful legs as he keeps thrusting deep inside of him, making his hole keep nice and tight too.

As he’s observing him, he sees the artist’s arms fly up so that he can firmly grab the pillow, his fingers digging into it as his body reacts to the waves of growing pleasure. His insides are getting used to Akira with every thrust, the persistent pouding getting him closer and closer to climax with every snap of the brunet’s hips, his mind racing and with only one thought repeating on a loop; more, more, more. His mouth falls open when the cock taking him to heaven crashes into his hardened prostate directly.

His parted lips, letting the high-pitched moans escape freely, call to Akira. He follows his urge and readjust his position a bit, climbing on top of Yusuke, having now his legs on either side of the him as the artist’s knees come to rest in his shoulders, which maintains his legs up and open. Akira then lowers down until he can catch his soft lips with his mouth, sweetly kissing him as he keeps pounding downwards into his ass. The new pose allows him to exit him almost fully, only letting the tip inside and then penetrating him again with powerful jabs, the force making the bed creak loudly beneath them.

Wanting to keep him close, Yusuke takes his arms up from the pillow and wraps them around Akira’s neck, reciprocating the kiss happily as the savage thrusts almost make him whimper onto the other’s mouth.

The scorching of their lungs forces them to stop the kiss, their lack of breath intensified by the physical exertion. Still, Yusuke keeps his mouth close to the brunet’s to be able to brush their lips together.

“A-ak...A-aaah!! A-akira…!” He manages to say between pants.

“Y-yusuke… you’re so cut-” He hushes himself kissing him deeply. “So cute and beautiful…” He keeps whispering compliments against his lips, the sweet pressure enveloping his cock freeing his mind to finally voice how he feels about the other.

Akira swears Yusuke blushes with his words, but it’s hard to tell since his face is beet red thanks to the heat encompassing them, the exertion and the hot air around them making both to start to sweat and their bodies to ache from the pose, but the libido urging them to move is too strong to make them mind.

“Akir-ra…” Yusuke pleads again, his fingers tangling on the other’s black curls. “A bit upwards please…”

Wanting to comply, he lowers his hips a bit and powerfully jabs into him, “Here…?”

“O-oh…!” A moan of confirmation escapes Yusuke, making Akira thrust once more into the same place. “Oh!!” He yells again, his fully stretched walls tightening once more since the ruthless pounding on his weak spot pushes him closer and closer to release.

Feeling it with the spasming around his pre-come leaking member, Akira carefully guides his hand to grab Yusuke own length and starts pumping it, wanting to give the artist the last push. It seems to do the trick, because Yusuke head falls backwards and his back tenses up, his whole body reading for his climax. The tension also travels to his insides, clutching around Akira and making the brunet apply his last bit of strength to make the artist finish with the highest note, also milking himself out with the wildly spasming hole around him until both of them release almost at the same time, their voices merging into a final moan and their minds joining into bliss. 

They needs to take a few longs moments to get off the rush, both panting heavily as they sweat-covered bodies are pressed into each other. Once Akira’s conscious enough, he finally exits Yusuke, the still tight walls clinging to his now sensitive cock and making him shiver. He sits down into the bed, finally letting Yusuke’s legs go down, and takes the used condom off.

“Where can I throw this away?” He asks after he hydrates his dry mouth a bit with a gulp.

“The kitchen,” the artist replies as a shaky hands goes to take some of the long strands of hair sticking to his forehead away, the other reaching out to grab a tissue to clean his stomach, covered in white, and his gaping hole caked with excess lube.

“Ok, be right back.”

With that, Akira gets up and exists the room, trying to find his way in the darkness to the kitchen and searching for a trashcan. It takes him a bit, but he finally finds it, disposing of the item and quickly going back to the bedroom.

When he enters back, he’s about to open the light when he sees the artist’s naked body curled up to one side, his now slow breathing letting him know he’s fallen asleep. 

Akira’s lips curl into a wide smile, his still racing heart swelling even more. Carefully, he looks for his boxers tossed on the floor and puts them on to then climb back into the bed. He crawls until he reaches Yusuke, laying right besides him while propping himself up with one elbow. He observes him for a while, watching how the streetlights cast a golden glow on his body, the coital sweat gleaming on his fair skin as if it were shining stars. Akira’s fingertips gently go to caress his face, taking the strands of blue hair out so that he can place a small kiss on his cheeks. His hand keeps traveling down until he reaches Yusuke’s arm, curled around himself, and continues the gently caress it as Akira goes to cradle him against his chest, big spooning him. 

A thin blanket falls over them, and he buries his nose on Yusuke’s hair, closing his eyes, knowing that the comfort and the tiredness will bring him sleep soon enough. 

***

Next morning comes, and Akira’s awaken by the sound of running water.

With great effort, he slowly opens his eyelids to see the spot next to him empty, the blanket tossed all around. Yusuke must’ve gotten up first and gone to take a shower.

He should get up before he finishes then. Akira rubs his face a few times and finally wills himself out the comfortable bed. He walks around the room to pick up his discarded clothes and quickly gets dressed. Before he exists the room though, he also collects the big lobster plushie and places it back on the bed, still amused by the fact that Yusuke would have something like this in his home.

Ready for the day, he leaves and goes straight to the kitchen, his stomach painfully reminding him that they didn’t eat dinner yesterday. He finds himself hesitating when he gets there though, not feeling comfortable looking around someone else's house. Maybe he should just wait for Yusuke to come…

As he’s thinking that, leaning into the counter, he sees some equipment for hand brewing coffee tucked in a corner of the kitchen. All the basic tools are there, next to a neatly closed bag of beans.

Well, this he knows how to do.

Akira quickly gets to work, fondly recalling some of his high school memories as he takes his time to brew the coffee. When he’s entering the final step of the process, he hears some footsteps approach him. He turns around and is met with Yusuke, fresh clothes and hair still slightly wet and bit dishevelled by the careless rubbing of the towel.

Akira can’t help but laugh at the cute scene, turning around to continue his work. “It’s almost done. I assume you like coffee if you have all of this laying around.”

“Yes, even if I tend to prefer tea, I enjoy it quite a bit. Still, I’ve never been able to successfully prepare a good cup using those instruments, so I’ve given up on it. I’m surprised to see you using it so freely,” Yusuke explains, opening a cabinet to grab two cups, which he leaves on top of the counter.

“I got some experience. Here.” His work finished, Akira pours the coffee and slides one of the cups to the other. 

The artist mutters a low ‘thank you’ and takes a small sip, his eyes widening instantly as the beverage touches his tongue. “This… this is splendid!”

Akira chuckles happily by the reaction and takes a sip as well. “I used to live in a coffee shop, so I know a thing or two.”

“... You lived in a coffee shop?” Yusuke says, his eyes even more surprised than before.

“It’s… a long story…” He settles with, not feeling like having that conversation so early in the morning. Still, Akira knows there is something he needs to talk about with him, the sooner the better. After taking another sip for some extra courage, he decides to speak up again. ”Hey, I... wanted to talk about yesterday,” he starts, his voice nervous.

“Oh.” Yusuke mutters, getting tense, and lowers his steaming coffee cup. “What is it that you wish to discuss?”

“Well, I know we kinda… rushed, a bit, but… I don’t want it to be a one-time thing. And I don’t want it to be only this either. What I mean is… ah…” He finds himself nervously rubbing the back of his head, trying to choose the right words. “Well, you see...”

“Yes, I understand.” The artist interrupts him before he gets lost in his own thoughts any longer. “I believe we have the same thing in mind.”

“Really?” Akira says, smile wide, relief flooding him. “So…You want to try it? Being together?” He finally asks, still unable to believe it’s really happening. 

“Yes, I would very much like that,” his dear Yusuke replies, smile just as big as his.

“Cool,” he can only say, still mildly shock. “Are you free on Thursday after yoga? We could go somewhere, for a date," he fails to pronounce the last word properly, coming out of his mouth in a whisper.

“Of course, I would love to,” the other responds with a small nod, his intense and ever passionate eyes going soft as they get lost in Akira's.

"Ok." Yet again, he finds it difficult to come up with a proper reply, the butterflies widely flapping their wings on his stomach rendering him almost speechless.

Before his mind can also join his outer-worldly trance thinking about a nice place to take the artist, Yusuke asks for his attention again.

“Let me get us something to eat, you must be famished.”

“Yeah, a bit…” He admits, resuming his coffee drinking.

“Also, if you have time, maybe we can finish the modelling session this morning,” he proposes as he goes to open the fridge.

Akira walks behind him, getting closer. “Sure, fine by me.”

Yusuke turns to look at him for a moment, his red-dusted cheeks and delicately curved lips making Akira's heart swell so much he's sure it's about to burst out of his ribcage. His love-clouded senses urge him to lean towards the artist, and he gives him a little kiss on the jawline. The gesture makes Yusuke chuckle before he too leans in to properly kiss him, full on the lips. Akira slowly closes his eyes and lets his mouth part open, enjoying the taste of bitter coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to post a long one-shot like this for a very long time. You know, it's like having a big chunk of a delicious sandwich in a single bite instead of eating it little by little with smaller chapter updates. I hope you all enjoyed this type of format.
> 
> Anyways, try yoga out, it’s really fun! Thanks for reading <3
> 
> [ twitter ](http://twitter.com/nature_check)


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